There are numerous, commercially available hard surface cleaning compositions available in the prior art. Generally, they consist of some small percentage of surfactant, such as a nonionic or anionic surfactant, a solvent, such as some straight-chain, simple alcohol, or ammonium hydroxide, a builder, and water. A perfume may be added to impart a pleasant fragrance to the composition, as well as to mask the unpleasant odor of the solvent and/or surfactant, and, perhaps, a dye to impart a pleasant color to the cleaning composition. However they have had limited cleaning efficiency with respect to particular types of soils, and are subject to streaking or redepositing of soil on the surface. Many cleaners are also very substantive on the surface to which they are applied, thus necessitating many passes with a cleaning cloth, paper towel or other sorbent to remove the cleaner. Still other cleaners may be too viscous, which may cause film-forming, or difficulty in discharge from the container for use. There is thus a need for a substantially low streaking or low film forming cleaner without having undue viscosity.
In an attempt to solve these problems some prior art has suggested the use of various organic polymers in formulations that include surfactants and solvents as referred above. Church, U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,873 ("Church I"), and Church, U.S. Pat. No. 4,315,828 ("Church II") proposed the use of relatively high molecular weight polyethylene glycol or methoxypolyethylene glycol polymers as lubricants in a cleaning composition containing an ammonium hydroxide or monohydroxy alcohol solvent. However, the two Church patents relate directly to cleaning of glass and chrome surfaces, and the formulations therein are peculiarly adapted to such surfaces and do not relate to the cleaning compositions of the present invention.
Apparently, however, in order to prevent streaking, the Church I and Church II compositions, after application, must be very thoroughly wiped from the surface treated so as to cause sufficient wicking action to draw the cleaning composition and loosened soil into the cleaning cloth. Otherwise, a residue will remain which, according to the Church I and Church II descriptions, may be easily wiped up.
Further, the Church I and Church II compositions are limited in the types of solvents which may be used in their formulations. In most instances, only such cleaning agents as lower boiling point alcohols and very limited amounts of higher boiling point solvents can be used in the Church I and Church II formulations.
Further, in other hard surface cleaners, where higher molecular weight polymers have been used, increased cost is a disadvantage.